


Paw Prints

by TorterraGarden



Category: Mystic Messenger (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, sally is in this obviously but there's no sally tag i guess, yoosung makes a very brief appearance but it's so brief i don't think i should tag him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-03
Updated: 2018-11-03
Packaged: 2019-08-16 18:03:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16500140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TorterraGarden/pseuds/TorterraGarden
Summary: The first real love and companion in Rika's life was her dog, Sally





	Paw Prints

**Author's Note:**

> I'm posting this for Rika's birthday. Sally needs more love I'm right and I should say it
> 
> A lot of this is just based on headcanons about Rika's past and the game's timeline is confusing af so idek how accurate a lot of it is but I also don't care anyway thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!!

It wasn’t Rika’s idea to get a dog. When she had become emancipated from her parents and moved into a new apartment, she had been unexpectedly contacted by her aunt. She had met her aunt a few times before, when she was very young, but she knew that her aunt and her mother didn’t get along, so visits between the two had been rare. She wouldn’t have thought that her mother would even say anything about Rika’s emancipation, but apparently Rika’s aunt had found out about it. She had contacted Rika to be sure that she was okay, a surprising gesture but a kind one, Rika supposed. 

She was fine with being on her own, as she told her aunt. She had found herself a decent apartment, and though it was lonely at times, it was much better than living with her parents. Her aunt had suggested that Rika get a pet of some kind. 

“You’re still so young, you shouldn’t be completely on your own,” she had said. “I suppose I can’t convince you to come live here, but why don’t you get a pet? A dog, or something. You need company.”

Rika did love animals, and had wished for a pet when she was a child. Really she had wished for any kind of companion when she had lived there, but of course her parents would never have allowed her to have a pet. She didn’t live with her parents anymore, though. She was free to do as she pleased. And a companion didn’t sound like a bad idea.

So here she was now, with a Cocker Spaniel puppy that she wasn’t entirely sure how she was going to take care of. The puppy, who she had named Sally, was running all around the apartment, sniffing at everything, her tail wagging wildly and her paws slipping slightly on the wooden floors. Rika sat on her couch, watching Sally explore her new home. She seemed to have a boundless energy, but surely she would tire eventually.

“Sally,” Rika said.

Sally was sniffing at one the couch legs, apparently fascinated by it. She didn’t react to the sound of her name. She didn’t know it yet.

“Sally,” Rika said again, a bit louder, and clapping her hands together as she did. This time Sally looked up, whether she was responding to the sound of Rika’s voice or to the clap, Rika wasn’t sure, but at least she had Sally’s attention now. Sally took a few steps closer to Rika, her tail still wagging.

“Good girl,” Rika said, reaching down to stroke Sally’s head. Her tail started to wag a bit harder at Rika’s touch, and she turned her head to lick Rika’s hand.

Rika laughed softly. She had never had such an enthusiastic or affectionate companion before. She wondered if she would be a good owner to Sally. She hoped she would be, but looking into Sally’s big brown eyes, she couldn’t help feeling nervous. Something kept whispering to her that she was going to screw this up, somehow. Sally was a perfect creature, innocent and loving and entirely good. Rika was none of those things. Her parents had told her so often enough. There was something deeply wrong with her, she knew that, did Sally know? Did she know how many dark thoughts were hidden in the corners of Rika’s mind? Could she sense Rika’s misery? Could she tell that Rika was sick in a way that might never be cured?

No, she thought as Sally licked her hand again. Sally didn’t see anything bad in Rika, and perhaps she never would. If a living thing as good as Sally could think of Rika as good, that had to count for something, didn’t it? That was what Rika would tell herself. As long as Sally loved her, and was happy with her, perhaps there was something Rika could do right.

“I’ll be the best owner,” Rika said. “I can promise you that, Sally. I’ll always try to be a good owner to you.” She stood, and Sally hopped around her feet in excitement, making Rika laugh. “You’ve been exploring on your own, and I haven’t even given you a proper tour of the apartment yet. Let’s do that now, shall we, Sally?”

*

The time that wasn’t spent on volunteer work, Rika would spend on training Sally. It didn’t take long for Sally to learn her name, as well as pick up simple commands like “sit” and “stay” and “come”, and Rika was even able to teach her more complex tricks, like “play dead” and “roll over”. Sally had even learned all of the names of her toys, and Rika only had to say the name of a toy for Sally to run off in search of it to bring to Rika. 

It was because Sally was so smart, Rika thought. She was lucky to have such a smart dog that took to training so well. That was what she had told Yoosung, when he had complimented her on how well trained Sally was.

“She’s definitely a smart dog,” Yoosung said. “But you deserve some of the credit too, Rika!”

“No, I don’t,” Rika said, waving her hand at him. “I barely had to do anything. Sally’s just a great dog.”

“Because she has a great owner,” Yoosung said.

They had gone to the park with Sally that day, to walk her together. Rika had only met Yoosung recently, and this was the first time they were doing something together that wasn’t volunteer work. Rika had known that she had two cousins, but she had never been able to meet them when she lived with her adoptive parents. Getting to meet Yoosung had been a special treat once she moved out. His school required him to do some volunteer work, so his mother had contacted Rika and asked if she would let Yoosung work with her. She had agreed not just because more volunteers were always needed, but because she was excited at the prospect of getting to know one of her cousins.

Contact with her aunt and cousins had been denied to Rika when she had lived with her parents, she had always assumed that her aunt had been just as reluctant to have any contact with them. However, since she had struck out on her own, her aunt had reached out to her more and more. She invited Rika over for dinner sometimes, and regularly called just to see how Rika was doing. Her aunt hadn’t even questioned the decision to go by the name “Rika”, and had simply accepted it. Every gesture made Rika wonder how often her aunt had tried to get in touch with her before. Did she only start caring out of a sense of duty, or perhaps pity, once Rika was on her own, or had she always wanted to know Rika, but had been kept away from her by Rika’s parents? Whatever the reason was, Rika wasn’t sorry that it was happening. It had made her slightly uncomfortable at first, because she wasn’t used to the attention or care, but it was nice.

There weren’t many people in the park that day, so Rika let Sally off of her leash. Sometimes she got a bit nervous letting Sally roam loose, but Sally never strayed from her sight, and she always came to Rika as soon as she was called. She really was a good dog. Was that because of Rika, as Yoosung had said? Perhaps she and Sally were just a good match.

“I did spend a long time training her,” Rika said.

“It shows!” Yoosung smiled widely at her, his eyes shining. He was always looking at her like that, she had noticed, like everything she said and did was captivating. She knew that Yoosung thought highly of her already, but that was only because he didn’t know her very well yet. “Maybe you just have a way with animals, like you do with people.”

Rika laughed. “I don’t know about that.”

“You never want to believe anything good about yourself,” Yoosung said.

Well, there was a reason for that, Rika wanted to tell him. She wasn’t used to hearing good things about herself, let alone believing them to be true. She sometimes felt jealous of Yoosung, for having had a much more normal and happy upbringing than she did. She couldn’t resent him for it, when he was always so kind to her, but she wondered sometimes how different she would be if she had known him and her aunt for her whole life. Maybe it would have been easier for her to see good in herself. 

However, Yoosung didn’t need to know such depressing thoughts, so all she said to him was, “I’m only trying to be humble. But it’s nice that you think of me that way, Yoosung.”

Rika watched Sally roaming around the park, trying to soothe her nerves and remind herself that Sally wasn’t going to run away. Sally wasn’t going to go anywhere out of sight, she never did.

*

A few years ago, Rika wouldn’t have thought she could be where she was now. This kind of happiness had never felt possible when she had been a child, crying under a pile of dresses in her closet.

This was what happiness felt like, wasn’t it? It must be. She had a home of her own, a loving pet, and great friends. And a great boyfriend, if indeed she could call him that. The word still felt strange to say or even think. _Boyfriend_. She had only known him for a month or so, she might still have to get used to the word. She knew they were moving a bit fast, by most people’s standards. She didn’t understand what it was that V saw in her, but he seemed serious about wanting to get to know her more, and about having her model for him. 

Modeling… Rika wasn’t sure yet how she felt about that, but she had promised to do it, and he had already taken some photos of her. The photos were beautiful, of course, but Rika attributed that entirely to V, not to herself. He was such a good photographer, such a good artist, even Rika was beautiful under his eye and care.

“What do you think of V, Sally?” Rika asked the dog, who was curled up on the floor in a patch of sunlight.

Sally looked up at Rika with bright and curious eyes.

“You know how much I like his photographs, don’t you Sally?” Rika asked. “You’ve heard me talk about them before, and I’ve shown them to you. Isn’t that right, girl?”

Sally’s tail started to wag slightly.

Rika knelt next to Sally and stroked her back. “You know exactly what I’m talk about, right Sally? You like V as much as I do, right? Right, Sally?”

The more Rika spoke, the more Sally’s tail wagged. It didn’t matter what Rika said to Sally, she was always excited just to hear Rika’s voice, it seemed. Rika laughed and moved her hand down to rub Sally’s belly. Sally rolled onto her back to give Rika easier access.

“I can trust your judgment,” Rika said. “So if you’re fine with V, I guess there really isn’t a problem with him.” Rika’s hand slowed to a stop, and she sighed. “I guess there isn’t a problem with him. But I think there’s a problem with me.”

Rika sat next to Sally with her arms around her knees. Sally’s tail-wagging slowed and she looked at Rika expectantly. After a minute or so, when it became clear that Rika wasn’t going to resume rubbing her belly, Sally rolled back into the position she had been in before, her eyes still on Rika, waiting for her to do something.

“I wish you could talk, Sally,” Rika said. “You’re so smart, I bet you would give good advice.”

Sally blinked at her in response.

“Do you think I’m being stupid right now?” Rika asked. “V seems nice, and he’s so good at seeing beauty in everything… I should just be glad that he can see it even in me. I don’t have to understand it, I just have to believe him, right?”

Sally stood and moved closer to Rika, rubbing her nose against Rika’s arm. Rika squirmed a bit and reached out a hand to stroke Sally.

“You see the good in everything too, Sally, including me.” Rika smiled sadly. “But it’s different for you, you’re a dog. You see me as good because you’re my pet. The only world you know is the one I’ve shown you. V wants to bring me into his world, but I don’t think he’s seeing me for what I am. What do you think? Should I trust him?”

Sally’s tail wagged, and she kept trying to press herself into Rika.

“He seems genuine enough when I talk to him,” Rika said. “Maybe I can give him the benefit of the doubt, just a little bit.” 

Rika leaned down and kissed Sally on top of her head, and as she pulled away Sally just managed to lick her cheek.


End file.
